Werebeast Gongs CH 052 Finding Lei Jin
Jing Yue felt a joy in his heart but didn’t dare show it on his face. He asked, "You don’t remember what happened before? Don’t you remember who I am?"
Lei Jin wanted to roll his eyes at him, but he didn’t have the strength. He was injured, not brain-damaged. Of course, he remembered who the person in front of him was. It hadn’t been that long, and he had a good memory when it came to beautiful people. This person was the one who had met him and Mingya in the jungle and had given him clothes, wasn’t he?
At that time, he remembered this person saying something, probably introducing himself, but the situation back then was that he couldn’t understand the language, so he couldn’t understand anything, let alone know who this person was. Now, seeing him again, and unless something unexpected happened, this person had likely saved him. Lei Jin thought to himself that he should ask for the other's name clearly this time.
"I remember you. I’m asking who you are and what your name is," Lei Jin’s throat was dry, and he coughed lightly before speaking.
"Drink some water first. You’ve been unconscious for four days," Jing Yue helped him sit up slightly, leaning him against his chest, and brought over a ceramic bowl from the wooden table, holding it to Lei Jin’s lips.
Given the circumstances, this position was understandable, but Lei Jin still felt very uncomfortable. He wanted to stretch out his hand to take the bowl, but his arm wouldn’t lift. How could this be? Thinking back to the time when he was grabbed by the dragonbird, could it be that his arms had really become paralyzed now? Lei Jin tried again twice, but it wasn’t pain—it was that there was no sensation at all.
"How could this be? How could this happen?" Had he really come to this backwards and savage place just to lose his arms? Without basic locomotive ability, what would he do in the future?
"Don’t worry. Your shoulder injury is very serious, but it’s been treated. Right now, you just can’t move it temporarily. It will get better after a while. Here, drink the water first," Jing Yue noticed Lei Jin staring at his arms, and his complexion looked slightly off. He understood. This female was truly unexpected. Even though he might lose his arms, he only muttered a few words and remained calm. If it were someone else, they would probably have mentally collapsed by now.
In truth, Lei Jin was about to have a breakdown inside, but he was never the type to be hysterical. If shouting could help, he wouldn’t mind shouting ten times louder. He thought to himself, if he lost his arms and had to depend on others for the rest of his life, he might as well have let the dragonbird kill him back then.
But it wasn’t time to give up yet. The most important thing now was to heal his injuries—perhaps it was only temporary numbness.
With that thought, Lei Jin lowered his head and drank the water from the bowl in Jing Yue’s hand. Still feeling thirsty, he unconsciously licked his lips and asked, "Is there more?"
This casual action caught Jing Yue’s attention, and his green eyes darkened.
"Yes, there’s plenty of fresh water," Jing Ping, seeing that his brother didn’t speak, took the water jug and poured more water into the bowl.
Jing Yue snapped back to his senses and fed Lei Jin another bowl of water.
"This is the Tiger Tribe. I’m Jing Yue, and this is my younger brother, Jing Ping, a female." When Jing Yue saw that Lei Jin no longer intended to drink, he handed the bowl to his younger brother standing beside him and helped Lei Jin lie down.
"The Tiger Tribe?" So, the werebeasts here were all tigers? If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes before, he would never have believed that werebeasts could freely shift between human and beast forms in this world.
"I’m Lei Jin."
"Lei Jin? Which tribe are you from?" Jing Ping sat down casually beside Lei Jin.
"I don’t have a tribe. I’m trying to find my way home," Lei Jin’s expression, which had been somewhat relaxed, turned cold. Since he had left, there was no reason to go back. Besides, in his current state, was he supposed to let Moya take care of him out of guilt?
"No tribe?" Jing Ping wondered. How could a female not have a tribe? How had he survived in the wild? But seeing Lei Jin’s serious injuries, he probably had encountered something bad, so he grabbed Lei Jin’s hand and smiled, "Then, until you find your way home, stay with us in the Tiger Tribe. My brother is strong, and he’ll protect you so you won’t get hurt. Right, Brother?" He had already noticed that his older brother was interested in this person—he had come to check on him ten times a day and even personally fed him medicine.
"Smart aleck," Jing Yue said, flicking his younger brother’s nose. To Lei Jin, he said, "You can stay here and rest. We’ll leave everything for when you’ve recovered."
Jing Yue’s thoughts were different from Jing Ping’s. After all, he had seen Lei Jin with that Leopard Tribe werebeast. He knew that the Leopard Tribe werebeasts wouldn’t harm their female mate, so it was impossible. But Lei Jin had been seriously injured by a fierce dragonbird—that was an undeniable fact. No matter what, Lei Jin denying he had a werebeast mate worked to his advantage, and he wouldn’t be foolish enough to bring it up.
The three of them each had their own thoughts.
Just then, Jing Yue's papa, Hao Chen, came in holding a large bowl of cooked meat and said, "I heard Jing Ping call out that you're awake. How are you feeling now? We've already had dinner, and I cooked some wild boar meat for you. Get up and eat a little?"
Lei Jin had no appetite at all, but since it was specially made for him, he couldn't refuse so he said, "Thank you."
As Jing Yue took the bowl of meat, he heard his papa say, "Let Jing Ping feed him. Jing Yue, come out with me for a moment." After giving Lei Jin a smile and a nod, he led the way out.
Jing Ping didn’t mind. He let Lei Jin lean on his shoulder and picked up a small piece of meat, feeding it to Lei Jin. "Lei Jin, try this. This is fresh wild boar meat we hunted a few days ago. It's tender and delicious. At home, it's just me and papa who can eat it."
Lei Jin took a bite. The taste was good, but as soon as he swallowed, he felt nauseous. After all, he hadn't eaten anything for four or five days, and now being given meat, it was no surprise that it made him feel sick. Plus, there was a difference between his diet and that of those who grew up eating meat in this world.
"Is it good?" Jing Ping, not noticing Lei Jin’s discomfort, asked.
Lei Jin forced himself to nod. He had to eat something to recover faster.
"Then have another piece." Jing Ping picked up another piece and offered it to him.
Lei Jin opened his mouth, but before the meat reached his lips, just smelling it made him gag. He suddenly leaned forward, his upper body slamming into the edge of the bed. He vomited up the small amount of meat he had just eaten. It didn’t stop there—since there was practically nothing left in his stomach, all that came up in the end was a bit of clear water.
"Lei Jin, what happened?" Jing Ping asked in alarm. As Lei Jin moved, he lost grip of the bowl in his hand, and the hot meat and soup spilled all over Lei Jin.
Jing Yue, who was nearby, rushed over when he heard the noise. Seeing Lei Jin's condition, he quickly helped him sit up and asked the flustered Jing Ping, "What happened?"
"Lei Jin vomited, and my hand trembled, so..." Jing Ping stammered.
"You go get some of your clothes." Jing Yue told Jing Ping, then looked down at Lei Jin and said, "You need to change out of your clothes now. Do you mind if I stay and help?"
Lei Jin was about to say that he didn't mind, thinking there was no reason for two grown men to help him change clothes. But then he suddenly remembered that the people here regarded him as a female. If he said he didn't mind, it might be misinterpreted. To avoid any misunderstanding, he decided against it.
So Lei Jin shook his head and said, "Let Jing Ping help me."
Lei Jin was right in doing so. In werebeast tribes, when a female doesn't mind revealing their body in front of a werebeast, it means they've silently agreed to become that werebeast’s mate.
Jing Yue, just testing the waters, saw Lei Jin refuse and wasn’t disappointed. He left and had his papa come in to help.
The two of them helped Lei Jin change into a new set of clothes.
"Still can't eat anything?" Hao Chen asked, having already heard from Jing Ping.
"Sorry to waste your kindness," Lei Jin said, feeling even worse after vomiting.
"What are we going to do?" Hao Chen stroked Lei Jin's hair, troubled.
The touch of his hand was warm, like the rare moments of tenderness he remembered from that woman in his childhood. Lei Jin, comforted by the gentle strokes, soon fell back asleep.
"Ai..." Hao Chen sighed, watching Lei Jin's peaceful sleeping face. The boy’s looks were indeed captivating, but with both arms ruined, it made him worry about Jing Yue and Lei Jin truly becoming mates. Still, for now, the priority was to get the boy better.
Time passed, and Lei Jin had been in the Tiger Tribe for more than half a month. During this time, he got to know many people—Jing Yue’s family, of course, including the kind but muddle-headed Jing Ping, the smart and handsome Jing Yue, their papa Hao Chen, their father (who was also the tribe leader) Kun Ge, and the healer Mu Yue.
Jing Yue and Jing Ping took him to see Mu Yue every two days to change the medicine, so they had become familiar with him.
However, his arms were still not improving. Mu Yue reassured Lei Jin that the herbs contained pain-relieving and numbing properties, but Lei Jin had a sense that his arms might indeed be ruined completely.
He only had slight sensation left. He could move them slightly up and down, but anything more strenuous, especially lifting them, was impossible.
He remembered something he overheard earlier that morning.
Jing Yue had accompanied him to change the medicine. As they reached the door, Jing Yue said he had forgotten to tell Mu Yue something and turned back.
Lei Jin waited outside for a while. When Jing Yue still hadn’t come out, he thought about telling him he could leave first. But as he walked toward the door, he overheard Jing Yue say, "Is there really no other way?"
Then Mu Yue’s voice followed: "As you can see, Lei Jin's shoulder injury was caused by the sharp claws of a dragonbird, and it seems like it had been clawed for quite a while. Afterward, the wound was submerged in water. I’ve tried several herbs on him these days, but the effects haven’t been good. I really don’t know what else to do."
"Are his arms really unable to recover?" Lei Jin couldn’t see Jing Yue’s expression, but he could hear the worry in his voice.
"Why, if his arms are useless, you don’t want him anymore? Who was it that eagerly wanted to become his mate back then?" Mu Yue sneered.
"How could I be like that? You know I like him." Mu Yue's words seemed to hurt him, and Jing Yue raised his voice in response.
"Then go tell Lei Jin yourself, don’t raise your voice at me."
What if his arms really became disabled? What should he do? Lei Jin sat alone under the gazebo in the courtyard. The courtyard had a few green vines planted, and Hao Chen had built a gazebo out of them.
No, he absolutely couldn’t give up like this. When he was in the modern world, didn’t he see people who were paralyzed yet managed to recover after rehabilitation and constant practice?
Lei Jin stood up from the chair and began moving his arms slowly back and forth.
"1, 2, 3, 4... 142, 143... tss..." As he swung his arms wider, the pain made him break out in a cold sweat.
"Lei Jin, what’s wrong? Why are you sweating so much?" Jing Yue instinctively raised his hand to wipe his sweat. Over the past few days, because of his arm problem, he had grown accustomed to this family helping him out. But after hearing Jing Yue’s words this morning, he felt it was better to maintain some distance.
Lei Jin stepped back a couple of paces and smiled, "It’s nothing, the weather is just a little too hot."
"It is a bit stuffy today, probably because it’s going to rain soon." Jing Yue didn’t seem to notice Lei Jin’s unusual behavior.
"I’ve noticed it rains a lot here," Lei Jin said.
"Maybe it's because our tribe is close to the sea?" Jing Yue could only think of this possibility.
"You mean the ocean?" No wonder at night, he’d often hear the sound of the waves, thinking it was just his imagination.
"After going down the mountain, for a female it only takes half a day to reach the seaside." Since Lei Jin seemed interested, Jing Yue continued explaining.
"That really is quite close.” A werebeast could probably get there with just a few flaps of their wings.
"I’ll take you to see Berg next time."
"Berg?" Who was that?
"Berg is my good friend. He's from the Merfolk Tribe." Maybe getting Lei Jin out to relax would help his recovery.
"You mean a mermaid?" This world really is full of surprises.
"A mermaid? But Berg is a male merfolk, though he’s quite handsome. You’ll see when you meet him. But be careful, he’s quite the playboy."
There was nowhere to go in the evening, so Lei Jin went to bed early. He shared a room with Jing Ping, which had two beds. Apparently when they were younger, Jing Yue and Jing Ping used to share this room. Later, as Jing Yue grew older, he moved out, and this room was left for Jing Ping. Lei Jin’s arrival made Jing Ping very happy, and at one point, he even wanted to sleep on the same bed as Lei Jin, but Hao Chen, who knew his terrible sleeping habits, stopped him.
That night, Jing Ping went to another female friend’s house, and without his usual chatter before bed, Lei Jin enjoyed some rare peace.
But the waves of pain in his arms kept him from sleeping. The pain felt like it was drilling into his bones. Perhaps it was because he overexerted himself in the afternoon.
Pain was better than no feeling at all, Lei Jin comforted himself.
Meanwhile, in the courtyard, Hao Chen and Jing Yue sat facing each other.
"I noticed Lei Jin ate much less today. How’s his arm?" Hao Chen asked.
"Mu Yue said there’s no hope. This afternoon, he was sweating from the pain." Jing Yue replied, recalling how Lei Jin still put up a brave front. It seemed that despite their time together, he couldn’t let his guard down.
"Papa, I’m a bit worried. Should I check if he’s asleep?"
Hao Chen nodded in agreement.
Before Jing Yue entered the room, he heard Lei Jin's heavy breathing. Lei Jin’s bed faced the window, and in the dim moonlight, his clothes were disheveled, his body twisting in discomfort. When Jing Yue got closer, he saw that Lei Jin’s face was flushed and hot. Jing Yue realized this was due to the jade mugwort. Not only did the jade mugwort affect a female’s body, but it also had an aphrodisiac effect. But he was concerned because Lei Jin’s injuries hadn’t healed yet. He had already reduced the dosage, and since Lei Jin had previously taken the jade mugwort in the Leopard Tribe, he shouldn’t have had such a strong reaction... why was this happening?
What he didn’t know was that Lei Jin had never taken it before.
Lei Jin was tortured by the pain in his shoulders and the heat inside his body, his mind becoming hazy. However, he vaguely sensed someone by the bed. In the dim light, those familiar green eyes were too recognizable.
"Moya, Moya..."
"What are you saying?" Jing Yue heard Lei Jin’s mumbling and couldn’t help but lean in closer. As he got closer, he was about to kiss him when he clearly heard Lei Jin’s words.
"Moya, it hurts..."
Xiya had been searching relentlessly for over half a month, almost at his breaking point. Every time he thought of Lei Jin lying somewhere waiting for him to rescue him, how could he eat and sleep peacefully? This river, though having two main tributaries, was connected to many smaller water systems, and he couldn’t afford to miss any of them. He feared passing by without realizing it. But each day felt more hopeless than the last. He knew that over half a month had passed, and if Lei Jin hadn’t been rescued by now, he had no chance of surviving.
What if Lei Jin died? Xiya couldn’t bear to think about it, nor would he allow himself to think that way.
It wasn’t the final moment yet. Papa had said that the outcome was often decided in the last moments, so he had to hold on.
This was his final hope. Xiya stood at the entrance of the Tiger Tribe’s valley.